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• Commented on Admin notice: server crash
  "Gone tech" is an aviation term used to describe the situation when an aircraft has a technical problem. The first flight out to Paris seems to regularly go tech while are sitting on it, wondering whether we're going to make...
• Commented on Obituaries
  Both countries gained their independence some decades ago, or hadn't you noticed? The UK government ("Great Britain" is the large island, not the country) doesn't get a say any more, though both countries retain the Queen (a non-political ceremonial job...
• Commented on Brief note: drinks, Wednesday 17th, Kuala Lumpur
  For those who have it, their Facebook page is a lot more useful than their website....
• Commented on Obituaries
  Presumably, to avoid claims of hypocrisy, the Argentinian government will be giving back the territory they stole from the Mapuche, Kolla, Toba, Guaraní, Wichí, Diaguita, Mocoví, Huarpe and all the other people who were there before them?...
• Commented on What are words worth?
  Here are a handful of examples, English, Scots, then Swedish: brain harn hjärna build big bygga child bairn barn street gate/gait gata There are many more....
• Commented on What are words worth?
  Scots and Scottish English are two different things. Swedish or Norwegian is more useful for understanding Scots than English is....
• Commented on What are words worth?
  The food thing would fail miserably to someone trying to work me out, although the fact that I refer to the evening meal as "tea" and have to remember not to call the midday/early afternoon one "dinner" for fear of...
• Commented on Brief clarification
  Kuala Lumpur is pretty diverse and in Malaysia, only Muslims have to obey the Rules for Muslims. There is beer available there, including at least one bar specialising in so-called craft beer (expansive fissy pish, but they have some bottle-conditioned...
• Commented on "We're going to need book covers. Lots of book covers!"
  If covers are all optimised for what it looks like on Amazon, all we will ever get is the author's name in big letters, and the title. In a crisp typeface that reduces well. Completely different designs are needed....
• Commented on How I feel this morning
  The app is Windows only, so not suitable for *anything*....
• Commented on The jet lag game
  High speed rail is just as incompatible with current rail infrastructure because, to make it work, it needs its own track with no other traffic clogging it up....
• Posted They're at it again, perhaps. to The Pagan Prattle
  England: The headline of an article on the BBC News website today caused a raised eyebrow at Prattle Towers: Witchcraft-based child abuse: Action plan launched. The start of the article was even more worrying. Had they taken on a redundant News of the World writer? The government has launched an action plan to tackle child abuse linked to witchcraft or religion in England. So, who is to be the victim of a moral panic this time? Are the fundies attacking Neopagans again? No, but the potential for vilification of an entire minority group is clear. This time, I fear what...
• Posted The Great Down South Egg-and-Spoon Race Conspiracy List to The Pagan Prattle
  There's some sort of sporting event going on down south, and I don't think I'm allowed to mention it without paying lots of money. But it seems it's all part of a conspiracy, or several conspiracies, and not just the obvious one. The most popular option is for there to be a fake terrorist attack in London during the games, possibly nuclear, though with a number of different culprits - those pesky Jews, or governments seeking to establish a New World Order, or the Illuminati, or something complex and occult, or a combination of those. You'll find these scattered around...
• Posted Pratlets for 26th July 2012 to The Pagan Prattle
  China: Man's penis stolen in his sleep—Digital Spy, 25th July 2012 England: Manchester uni puts faith in praying booth—The Guardian, 26th July 2012. May I suggest that studying is a far more effective technique? India: Couple, accused of witchcraft, forced to consume human waste—The Hindu, 21st July 2012 India: Woman suspected of witchcraft hacked to death in Vizianagram—Times of India, 21st July 2012 India: Row over witchcraft may have killed 12-year-old: Police—Times of India, 22nd July 2012 Kenya: Elderly couple rescued from Bamburi mob—The Star, 25th July 2012. An elderly couple in Bamburi was on Sunday evening rescued by...
• Posted Allah unimpressed by religious boasting to The Pagan Prattle
  England: I would not normally pay any attention to the Daily Mail, but someone else read it, so I didn't have to. Newcastle are ready to unleash the power of prayer on the Premier League, with plans for a dedicated religious room for three key players who have lit up their season. Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa are devout Muslims and they could play a key role on Sunday when Newcastle host Manchester City with the dreams of both clubs in the balance. United want to secure a berth in Europe and City want to clinch...
• Posted Homophobic bigot banged up for child sex abuse. to The Pagan Prattle
  Scotland: A Christian preacher and former Conservative candidate has been gaoled for the sexual abuse of three children, two boys and a girl. He had met the children at the Edinburgh City Mission and gained the trust of their parents. The parents of his victims believed he was a devout Christian and let him take the youngsters to play parks and swimming pools. Instead Smart, of Christian Crescent, Edinburgh, used the time alone with them to carry out the abuse. But this is not the first time Smart has featured in the Prattle. Back in 2003, when he was...
• Posted Chestnut continues to be hairy to The Pagan Prattle
  Some myths never die. Indeed, the internet seems to enable them to spread far more quickly than before. That some people are simply violent cunts who need to be locked up never occurs to most. It's either space aliens, the Beast of Bodmin or, as in this case, some kind of imaginary Satanist.
• Commented on High Street Blues
  in the PAC Northwest... What I wouldnt give for a Waitrose :( You have Whole Foods Market, who are pretty much in the same segment of the market. The main difference is that Waitrose is owned by the staff, rather...
• Posted Look who's back to The Pagan Prattle
  And still full of himself. So, if someone ends up getting hurt there, will he take responsibility for his actions?...
• Posted The Annual End-of-the-World Post 2012 to The Pagan Prattle
  Tradition was fully observed during 2011 when, despite some strong contenders, none of the predicted ends to the world happened. But 2012 promises to be a biggie. The world is going to end in so many ways this coming year that I really should have started writing this more than 11 hours before the end of 2011. But first, as tradition dictates, the ongoing end-of-the-world scenarios:...
• Commented on High Street Blues
  No, johnny99.1 @ 63 is right on the matter of pubs. The biggest of the tenanted pub chains is a property speculator at heart. They charge high rents, and tie the tenants to them and then charge more for the...
• Commented on The coming retail apocalypse: some axioms
  Is Japan not in Asia then?...
• Posted A festive visitation to The Pagan Prattle
  Last night I set up the Solstice Everblack and stepped back to take a photograph. When I downloaded the photo from the camera, I spotted something I hadn't noticed: Cthulhu Himself peering through the window!
• Posted WotD: Scheinheiligkeit to The Pagan Prattle
  Scheinheiligkeit is a German word for hypocrisy, specifically that kind of hypocrisy which involves feigned innocence, an "appearance of holiness". A good example of Scheinheiligkeit would be a high-ranking representative of an organisation which has deliberately covered up child sexual abuse in its ranks groundlessly accusing another group of paedophilia. Which brings us on to Colombian Roman Catholic bishop Juan Vicente Córdoba, who objected to the adoption of two boys by an American gay man because, well, poove sonly want to have sex with children.
• Commented on The one that got away
  No, the precise shop was over the road where either the bookshop or the trendy crafts shop is now....
• Posted How not to run an online petition to The Pagan Prattle
  Dozens of people have complained after their names falsely appeared on a petition to the Scottish Government opposing same-sex marriage. MSPs and the Information Commissioner have heard from people whose names appeared on the petition without their consent.
• Commented on Mercury, Retrograde
  I know Who the weather is following. It's Fluff the Plush Cthulhu!...
• Posted Words fail me to The Pagan Prattle
  Last night, Red Wolf forwarded me a link to an article. I have spent much of the intervening time wondering what on earth I could say about it, but I could only detract from the sheer amazement at reading this piece for the first time. So, without further comment, Awesome New UFO Theory: Approaching Comet is Really a Borg Cube From Jesus....
• Commented on Neopagan site destroyed in suspected hate attack
  The reason the police think it was a hate crime is because it wasn't easy to destroy. Someone (probably plural) went to considerable effort to destroy it, employing some heavy tools to do the job....
• Posted Neopagan site destroyed in suspected hate attack to The Pagan Prattle
  A stone circle built by neopagan students as a temple has been destroyed in what police believe to be a religiously-motivated hate crime. The circle has regularly been vandalised, but this time it is not the work of casual hooligans.